Infected Hearts
by LunarLacrimosa
Summary: The zomb!apocalypse happens. Sam gets infected, Miles has two kids to protect, and Bumblebee stays away from the Autobots. Fast forward a few months to Miles and Bumblebee finding each other, and then going to the Autobot base. A story of trying to reconnect and pick up the pieces.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **I just wanted to write a small little zombie!transformers drabble and then I sneezed and woops 5,000 words came out. Silly me! Originally posted in DRABBLES, but wanted to continue it.

* * *

Bumblebee never quite understood what was with humans and their fear of the dead. On Cybertron once a mech or femme died their parts were reused; it was the spark that made them who they were, after all, but humans buried or cremated their dead. To a certain extent Bumblebee understood that. There were diseases that spread easily, and the only way they could reuse a dead _Homo sapiens' _parts was if they were an organ donor, though if it was a diseased human they couldn't do that.

Sam had shown him quite a few zombie movies to celebrate _"Dia de los Muertos"_. He didn't have any Spanish blood in him, but that was hardly the point. They'd both enjoyed watching the zombie-thon, as Sam had labeled it, the good and horrific to the bad and fake. Some were laughable, like Zombieland, and some had Sam clenching a little tighter at Bumblebee's steering wheel, like the Dawn of the Dead remake. There were even a few that couldn't technically be classified as 'zombie', but just 'infected', like 28 Days Later, where the people didn't die but their brains got destroyed by the virus and so on and so forth.

There were many zombie movies and stories, managing to range through all languages and customs on Earth. And if it wasn't a zombie movie, then it was vampires, another undead creature that Sam had often made fun of. It was almost unbelievable, really, the fascination and fear humans had towards their dead, and the thoughts of the dead reanimating. All the Autobots thought it laughable at best, and just entertained their little organics when one of them wanted to watch a movie. The organics, like always, realized that it was just another difference between cultures, and that the Cybertronians had no fear of their dead.

None of the Cybertronians had ever seen what the humans so feared actually happening. It was laughable, really, be it dead coming to life or some type of virus that turned people into flesh eating, mindless creatures. But they had never seen a point where they'd have to send the Allspark cube off world and have it end up on a planet light-years away from their home, occupied by little fleshy organics that they could kill with a flick, either.

It did happen, though. A virus that passed through horribly easy means, like a bite, or through body fluids. Where it had started, Bumblebee wasn't sure, but it had to have been close by, because by the time it hit Tranquility, Nevada, there still wasn't a huge hubbub over it. Sam had gone out to tell Bumblebee about the news report, the two sharing a laugh over what was surely a hoax, when Mikaela had come running up, sobbing.

Mikaela was the first bite victim that Bumblebee had known, but at that point there had been no information that those bitten would become infected as well. Bumblebee had been unable to do anything but promise to keep guard for any of the crazed infected that might still be roaming around, Sam taking Mikaela into the house where Judy and Ron proceeded to comfort her. Sam, left without anything to do as his parents spoiled his girlfriend, texted Bumblebee that he was taking a short nap.

In hindsight, Bumblebee should have known what was going to happen. But then again, so should have Sam, a horror movie buff despite the fact some terrified him. Just short of three hours later, there was a short scream from Judy, and a shout from Ron. Bumblebee revved his engine anxiously out on the driveway, but otherwise did nothing. It wasn't until Sam jumped out of his bedroom window with Judy trying to grab at him that Bumblebee realized what had happened.

Sam ran to him just as Ron and Mikaela came out of the house to get him, but Bumblebee was faster than any human, pulling up and letting Sam in before they could get him. His Charge was, understandably, a wreck, and was crying with gritted teeth. The Scout had activated his holoform briefly to take care of the small area on Sam's wrist which was bleeding, though if it was from teeth trying to bite or fingernails, he couldn't tell. Bumblebee started driving to the Autobot base, the safest place he could think of, while Sam tried to calm himself down.

With Sam as distraught as he was, Bumblebee decided the best thing to do was use the special gas Ratchet had given him for just such a case, to calm panicking organics. He released it slowly into the air, noting the affects within minutes as Sam's eyes began to droop.

"I-I'm gonna take a nap, Bee." Sam scrubbed at his eyes, climbing into the back of Bumblebee's interior and spreading out.

Bumblebee said nothing and started playing a soft jazz tune for his Charge, dimming his windows so much that Sam would be unable to see the outside world, which was going to hell at a surprising rate. Once he was sure his Charge was out Bumblebee clicked on the radio, desperate for any news. That was when he learned how the virus spread, the main way through bites. It had happened so often in the movies, hadn't it? A person got bit, they got infected, they bit someone else. A vicious cycle that was now a horrifying reality.

The Autobot Scout immediately slammed on his breaks, some part of him realizing that Sam was already lost. His wonderful little Charge, the one who had saved Bumblebee more than he could have ever known from the horrors of the Great War, was sleeping unaware of the changes already taking place in his body, the ones Bumblebee could pick up on his scanner, and Bumblebee didn't have the heart to tell him.

Bumblebee slowly and carefully slipped his seatbelt around the teen, already burning up with fever and whimpering. The Scout kept a continuous scan on him out of habit, knowing the exact moment that Sam was truly lost. And the exact moment that his teen woke up as something more, still Sam, but not anymore. Bumblebee tightened the seatbelt, pressing him back against the seat even as the not-teen struggled, and locked his doors.

His Sam would have been devastated if Bumblebee ever let him attack anyone, and the Scout promised himself that he never would.

* * *

Five months had passed since Sam had become infected, and the human world had gone to ruin. It was almost funny to see how, not all that long after Mission City, all the humans that had been crawling around the planet like ants were now dead. Bumblebee just wished that they had stayed that way; that Sam had stayed that way. Maybe if his Charge hadn't have come back he would have been able to move on, to go back to his Autobots.

As it was, the Autobot Scout just wandered. It didn't take all that long for Sam to become complacent and just settle in. At first, when Bumblebee called his name, Sam appeared to respond. But as time went on Sam's mental capabilities began to wear, and he rarely if ever responded to his name. Bumblebee didn't let him go, though. No, though occasionally he'd let Sam out for "walks", so the teen would be able to keep some sort of muscle/motor control, he couldn't let the boy go.

In many ways, Sam had been the light at the end of the tunnel for him. A new, fresh beginning. Bumblebee's life had been filled with the Great War. It had killed his Spark-parents, it had killed many of the oddball Autobots that had pitched in to raise him and keep him safe. He'd seen and done terrible things in the name of war. Sam had provided him an out, a way of redeeming himself and a way of experiencing the childhood he was never really allowed to have. He had been better off than Skids and Mudflap, the Spark-twins that had reverted to childish troublemakers long ago, but it still had been a psychologically healing friendship for him. His Charge had meant a lot to him, they had become close in a short time.

And now his Charge was forever sitting in his backseat, safely guarded by a seatbelt, and unable to decompose enough to die, as far as Bumblebee could tell. It was unlucky for what few remaining humans there might be, but it was lucky for all the infected still free and roaming.

The Scout settled down just a few miles outside of Mission City, in between a pile up and free open space behind him. He couldn't move forward without transforming, and he wouldn't risk losing, or hurting Sam should he pick him up, so he stayed there. He ignored all of the pings waiting on his HUD, unopened comms that had been piling up for a while now, and slipped into recharge.

* * *

Miles glanced behind him at the zombies running towards him, and he urged himself to go just that much faster. There had to be about thirty of the damned zombies chasing him, and he'd only just run out of ammo. Fuck, fuck, triple fuck, what the hell was he supposed to do? Sure, there were cars littering the almost highway he was running on, but the chances of them standing up to the relentless pounding of the infected was unlikely. Miles had seen someone try that before, the poor bastard had ended up zombie chow within an hour, and there was no way in hell that he was going to put himself through that.

He was terrified, and desperate. It had been weeks since he'd seen anyone living, and he kept thinking about maybe holing up in a fairly decent house and making a perimeter around it, but he just kept heading towards his old home instead. That's what Millie and Nick had been asking for, after all. The two wanted to see home one last time, to have some sense of closure in a world gone to hell, and how could Miles say no to them?

Millie and Nick were the ones he had to stay alive for. The ones he had to make it back to after escaping this fucking horde. He could cuss fate all he wanted for accidentally setting off the one Screamer he'd found in a month, the one zombie that could actually fucking talk to its' fellow infected and let them know that there was a nice tasty meal nearby through a scream that echoed no matter where it was made. Cursing fate did nothing.

He had stopped being Miles Lancaster, high school student, hippie/skater-wanna-be, best friend of Sam Witwicky, greatest son ever, surprisingly intelligent, and a jock lunch money giver a long time ago. He was just Miles now, big brother, protector. Without his kids he was nothing. Without them he didn't want to be anything. And without him they would never survive.

But there wasn't much he could do with no ammo and a horde of the infected chasing after them.

Miles caught sight of the pileup in front of him. A fire truck was in the middle of it, and two cars were scrunched into the tiny space between it and the road barriers. If he climbed the truck and jumped off the back that would afford him some time, maybe even enough to find a car to hide in. There was only one means of survival if you had to pack yourself in a car, and that was by taking a dead body, preferably one that had belonged to the group of the infected not all that long ago, and pulling it in with you. The smell in the small confines was terrible, but it did the trick. If they couldn't smell you, and you were quiet, then they left you alone. It was his only chance.

* * *

Bumblebee woke to the sound of pounding feet.

It took him a moment to gain his bearings, but he did a quick scan of his surroundings as his systems came online, and he picked up a living energy signature not all that far from him. He shifted on his shocks in mild interest, and even Sam was sitting upright, the most excited Bumblebee had seen him in three months. He must have been picking up the scent of the human, though the Scout had no intention of letting his Charge at them. And Sam knew that by now, even in his current state, because he'd given up struggling a long time ago.

The Scout watched a figure clamber on top of the fire truck. The man paused only momentarily to kick off one of the faster infected that was trying to claw its' way up towards him, before he ran and hopped off the back. Even from his distance away Bumblebee knew it was a bad landing from the way the guy stumbled, nearly falling before catching himself on a nearby vehicle and starting to hobble along.

But the guy didn't have time to just simply stand there or try and walk off the pain; already the infected were piling on top of the fire truck or swarming over the vehicles on either side of it. He was too slow now to try and hope to outrun them but he was trying anyway, and Bumblebee had to give him his utmost respect. How this one person had survived these months while so many others had died was beyond him, and the closer he got the younger and younger he looked.

"Over here!"

Bumblebee finally called to the human, spark filled with indecision about intervening. He'd failed Sam, he'd probably fail this one as well, but he could _try_. And the guy, a teenager from the looks of it, instantly sought out his voice. The Scout already had a blond holoform out and gesturing wildly at his alt mode.

It wasn't until the teen was nearly upon him that Bumblebee recognized him as Miles. The boy had been a friend of Sam's when he had still lived in Nevada, but not long after Mission City the Lancaster family had moved states to Utah. Sam had been somewhat torn up about it, but the Scout had never heard much about Miles either way. The teen had ridden in him only one time, and that hadn't been enough to tell the Scout what he was about.

Miles dragged himself over to Bumblebee as fast as he could, showing no signs of recognition towards the Camaro design, but just a thankful, yet still desperate, look. He vaulted himself over the bed of a truck to add another obstacle for the infected to get through, slowing several down. The infection left them vastly inferior to a normal human's brain, but what they lacked in intelligence they made up or in sheer perseverance. They never stopped, and from the way he was dragging his foot he'd probably hurt it worse than the Scout had first thought, which was unlucky. The infected were nearly on him now, and if Bumblebee hadn't been there to slam the door shut after Miles practically tossed himself inside of his front seat then one of them might have been able to squeeze in behind him.

Bumblebee dissolved his holoform and locked his doors as the infected started to bang on his frame. The teen within him was shrinking into his spot in the driver's seat, slinging off his backpack and staring with a dark expression out the front windshield.

* * *

Miles looked out the windshield at the zombies already on the Camaro, knowing it was unlikely that they'd give up and go away with nothing to cover his scent. But there had been the military looking dude, which meant this car must be one of the few that actually worked. It was his lucky day; he might be able to make it back to Millie and Nick after all.

Movement in the rear-view mirror caught his attention, and Miles turned with a smile, ready to thank the man who had helped to save him. But it wasn't the man at all; it was one of the infected. One of _them_, straining against the seat-belt holding him in place and reaching forward to try and grab Miles, mouth opening and closing as if he could already taste him.

Miles tried to scream, cramming himself back into the dashboard to try and get away from the reaching hands, and oh fuck that was Sam, _Sam _a zombie sitting right there and making those little growls and—"No, no, it's alright! He can't get you, you're fine!"

Miles looked around wildly for the voice, but he couldn't find the source.

"He can't hurt you," The tone was firmer now, less calming and more commanding. "Put the gun down."

The teen hadn't even realized he'd been pointing his shotgun at Sam. It was reflex, really. Even though he had no ammo it was instinct to point it at the infected that was an immediate threat. Slowly, Miles settled it in his lap, careful to make sure it was on safety just in case he'd miscounted. After all this time he wasn't going to die by accidentally shooting himself, and he'd made it a habit to always flick it onto safety when it wasn't in use in case Nick or Millie ever picked it up.

But, for the first time in months, his sister and their friend was one of the last things on his mind. Right in front of him was his old best friend. Infected, now, and just as hungry as the others who were gathered outside the Camaro. And then, to top it all off, there was the disembodied voice of the military guy. Miles knew for a fact that he had seen the guy, and that the voice that had told him to put the gun down was his voice, so what the fuck.

"What is going on?" Miles asked breathlessly, staring at the snarling face of his old friend.

"With Sam, with me, with your foot, or with the world?"

"All of the above."

"I've scanned you and you've cracked one of your metatarsals. Also, I am Bumblebee." Miles thought Bumblebee sounded awfully tired, but it was rather strange for a car to sound tired. It was strange for a car to sound anything, let alone talk.

"Are you one of those things that were at this city?"

"Yes. As far as I know my race did not bring this disease down upon yours," Bumblebee's voice was mainly coming from the radio. "I've heard almost all of the theories. Bacteria, virus, a curse, stuff from outer space… I would never bring this willingly upon the human race, that I swear."

"No…" Miles finally tore his eyes away from Sam, moving so his back was pressed up against the window with the least amount of infected outside of it. He laughed without putting any emotion in it, "If you're with Sam then there's no way you could be bad. He was always terrified of everything. Did he… I mean, was it…?"

"He didn't suffer, if that's what you want to know. He was one of the first to go, back before even I knew what was fully going on. I put him to sleep and he just didn't wake up."

Miles knew that Sam was very much awake right now, back there in the backseat of this talking Camaro called Bumblebee and making hungry little sounds, but he also knew what Bumblebee meant. Sam Witwicky had gone to sleep and never woken up; the thing in there now wasn't Sam, just like the creatures his parents had become. It was just easier to separate them entirely.

"Alright, I'm pretty sure you know who I am, right?"

"Yes. You rode in me to the lake and the party."

"God, that's right. That seems like an eternity ago…" Miles stared out the window at one of the infected there, "Alright, so, my foot is broken, from the sounds of it, and I have no ammo. You are literally my only means of survival right now, so I'm banking on you dude, but it's super creepy that you've kept Sam around all this time."

"I would not allow him to go out and harm others; he would have hated himself for it if there is anything of him left in there."

"No, no, I understand. That I get perfectly. Sam was my best friend; he was an awesome dude, but…. It's cruel to leave him like this. We don't know if there's any of him left in there, but I'm pretty damn sure he wouldn't want to be left like this. He's not even himself. He's completely mindless."

"That's not true!" Bumblebee snapped, "The fever has destroyed most cognitive reasoning, yes, but he recognized his name for quite a while, and he doesn't bother trying to claw his way out of me anymore."

"Bumblebee, I've seen those things-"

"Do not call him a thing!" Bumblebee growled.

"-pick up a phone before. I've seen some just stand at the corner of a street and look up at a streetlight, waiting for something that will never come. They don't know what they're doing or why they're doing it; it's just there. It's just a habit hard wired into their brain. Something the fever didn't quite manage to destroy. It's like someone with dementia, but that's not Sam anymore. Dementia doesn't make someone eat someone else."

"If it's not Sam than what is it?"

"A monster."

* * *

Bumblebee had known Miles was right from the start, but it took a while before he could let the teen convince him that it would be best to let Sam go. For a short time Sam had been his world, his light, and then his light had been muddied, but he'd held on to it.

Now he watched in holoform as Miles opened his back door, turning off his sensors on his frame so he wouldn't have to feel it as the healthy teen unbuckled the infected one while holding his mouth shut and taping his hands together. Then Miles was leading Sam out and away from Bumblebee, and he hated it. They'd made a quick pit stop to pick Miles up some more ammo as per Bumblebee's suggestion, a quick, hopefully painless way of ending it for his Charge, but it had been Miles who had suggested the place. Right next to a river with a little wooden boat tied to a tree. Inside of it Bumblebee had laid the picnic blanket that Sam used for him and Mikaela.

Miles limped a few feet in front of Sam, raising the pistol he'd picked up at the gun store. Bumblebee had offered to make the teen an impromptu splint, but he'd said not to waste what time they had, so the Scout had let him treat his foot how he liked. He expected the teen to just shoot, but Miles looked at him.

"Any last words?"

Bumblebee stared hard at the figure stumbling towards Miles. It was the first time Sam had never been looking at him, because Miles was right. If something of Sam was still in there, then he'd be thankful to die. All the thing in front of him wanted was to make a meal out of Miles. The only reason the creature in front of him had ever paid attention to his holoform was because it could touch him and make noise.

It wasn't Sam anymore, no, but in a way it was. What used to be Sam now just embodied him. Bumblebee had foolishly thought that if he'd kept the infected teen safe inside him he could keep Sam with him, still. But he had lost Sam a long time ago.

"Goodbye."

Miles gave him a humorless smile, before turning his attention back to the creature coming at him. Bumblebee noted the way his expression instantly hardened and if he held any remorse for what he was about to do then it didn't show. In a way that comforted the Scout. It was just another war, after all. This time it was between the infected and the non-infected, and Bumblebee had chosen his side, hadn't he? It was just unfortunate that what was left of Sam was the opposing faction.

As soon as Miles squeezed the trigger Bumblebee shut his sensors down, only allowing himself to hear the pop as the bullet left the barrel of the gun. A few seconds later he let them come back online, staring down at the body of his Charge that was now on the ground.

"Did he ever tell you about our bucket list?" Miles asked, kneeling down and closing Sam's eyes before reaching under the body to get some leverage before starting to drag him towards the river.

Bumblebee hadn't realized the significance of the wooden boat until Miles mentioned it, but he remembered the day Sam told him quite fondly. It had been spent just the two of them; sharing their wishes and hopes for the future, even the silly little things. Sam had mentioned just wanting to float along a river, any river, and go where the flow took him. Let the river dictate which direction he'd go in completely. It had been a passing whimsy, but Bumblebee had thought it sounded like a good idea in a physical and metaphorical sense.

In a way, it was the best burial rites that he could imagine giving to his Charge.

The Scout went over to Miles and just claimed the weight of his Charge's body, carrying him to the boat and settling him down in it. He turned to untie the rope, and when he had turned back Miles had adjusted his body. Not with his arms folded over his chest like Bumblebee had come to understand most humans, at least in American culture, got sent off with, but in a position that truly made it look like he could just be sleeping on a boat that was taking him to an unknown destination. Relaxed. Free.

Bumblebee dropped the rope, and Miles shoved the boat off into deeper water with his good foot.

* * *

Miles had asked Bumblebee to drive back to Mission City. He regretted how far out they'd had them go for Sam, but he felt it had been a good thing. Closure for both himself and the robot. Now they just had to backtrack about an hour, and hopefully the Scout could get him back before nightfall. He'd get hell if Millie and Nick started to worry.

For Bumblebee's part, he was just content to be quiet. Compared to Ratchet and Ironhide, or even to his Prime, he was very young, but since coming to Earth he had never felt every second of his life so much. Especially on this day.

"So…" Miles stared at the moving wheel in front of him, feeling too drained to look out at the desolate landscape around them. "You mentioned that you got to hear all the theories. Was there anything substantial going around? I never got wind of much with everything going to shit so quickly."

"The most likely answer that I heard back then is an advanced strain of rabies." Bumblebee's voice drifted softly out of the radio. "It is similar in many ways, I've noted that personally."

"Oh, yeah, same." Miles joked lightly, "Maybe we can compare field notes."

"We could," Bumblebee agreed, "But I think mine will be substantially more scientific than yours. As fascinating as 'Fucker tried to fucking eat me' is, it won't help us much in getting an answer."

Miles laughed, and Bumblebee decided he liked that sound. The teen sobered up quickly, though, his group tightening on his steering wheel minutely.

"One of the biggest things I'd heard was that it was judgment day. Those who had sinned were left to fend for themselves." Miles sounded just as tired with his life as Bumblebee himself felt.

"When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth." Bumblebee supplied, pulling the line from one of the movies that Sam had made him watch an eternity ago.

"That might be entirely too true, because now Earth itself is the only hell I can imagine." The teen paused now, "But… would you like to see my reason for living?"

Bumblebee realized that Miles was not only giving him a way out but also a way in. The Scout owed the teen nothing, and the teen likewise owed him nothing. If Bumblebee choose they could go their separate ways, but the Autobot couldn't do that. After so long with Sam it only felt right to have a human sitting inside of him, and they already had a strong point of connection. Miles had survived this long, the chances of him knowing how to keep himself alive and his chances of actually staying alive only doubled with Bumblebee wanting to protect him.

And most importantly, Miles was offering to trust Bumblebee. A relationship could get nowhere without that.

* * *

Bumblebee had never truly planned to ever step a ped back in Mission City, although he'd rested on the outskirts of it for so long. But Miles led him deeper and deeper within the city itself until they finally reached a rather large apartment building. Then, ever so slowly, the teen led him up and up and up the stairs of the fire escape.

They had to go slowly. While Bumblebee could easily create no sound in his holoform, Miles could be easily heard, especially with his wounded foot. But neither foot nor fear slowed the teen down in the slightest outside of normal cautiousness, or what Bumblebee assumed to be his normal amount of caution. He'd never truly seen a human navigate an area and successfully avoid the infected, but Miles was doing quite well.

The metal fire escape creaked an unhealthy amount, but Miles kept going. And going, and going. Half way up they ran into one dead body, but the teen just stepped over it without a second glance, leading Bumblebee to assume he'd already known it was there. It wasn't until they reached the last floor that Miles stopped, the fire escape just about ten feet too short of giving access to the roof.

The teen opened the window to the last floor cautiously, before slipping inside. Bumblebee followed him effortlessly, offering his arm to steady the teen, but he was waved away. Instead Miles went about half way down the hall, toward the end where the blocked elevator and stairway entrance where, and knocked on the ceiling four times.

It was then that Bumblebee noticed the cracks in the ceiling, just as the covering was moved and a ladder was slid down. Miles started to climb up with some difficulty, but Bumblebee helped hoist him up when he couldn't manage his bad foot. Bumblebee climbed up after Miles, turning instantly to pull up the ladder at the teen's hushed urging.

"Brother!" Bumblebee was surprised by a young sounding, feminine voice, but when he turned around he was absolutely floored.

Clinging to Miles was not one, but _two_ kids. Children! The little blonde girl with bright blue eyes and an angry pout on her face was very obviously Miles' sister, but the dark haired little boy appeared to be of no relation. He was no less thrilled to see Miles, though, because he was clinging to the older teen just as tightly as the girl.

Miles had mentioned having a reason to live, but Bumblebee had never imagined something like this. The teen had to be incredibly strong to take on the weight of protecting two kids by himself in a world that was literally out to eat them. Miles was a Guardian in his own right, and he had trusted Bumblebee with the secret of his two young Charges. And the teen was obviously just as thrilled to see his kids as they were to see him, because he was picking them both up, his bad foot completely ignored, and hugging them close, checking them over for any wounds even though he'd left them in an obviously safe place.

It reminded Bumblebee of family. It reminded him that he was a part of one, and could be a part of this one if he wanted to be. And he did. There were no Cybertronian younglings, and there would be no more younglings or sparklings. The Cybertronians were a dying race; they were dying right alongside their human counterparts. But there was some life left yet in both of them, and Bumblebee felt like clinging to it for the first time in a long time.

* * *

"Where are we going?"

Miles had been content to just let Bumblebee drive for the past few hours. He had finally allowed the Scout to make him a splint once he had Millie and Nick safe in his arms, and the two had fallen fast asleep once they were safely inside the Autobot. Miles had them close to his side as they slept, and at first Bumblebee had told him the story of his race. But that story had long since run out, and while Bumblebee had ended his when Sam's life had stopped, they both knew it was just a new chapter, as cliché as it was to think it.

"Somewhere safe," Bumblebee assured him.

Now that the Scout had actually bothered to fully scan Miles, he was displeased in what he saw. Given that he now knew about Millie and Nick he couldn't say he was shocked; the teen must have been giving most of the food to the two kids, and he was very obviously the only one of the group who could protect and scavenge. Miles had to have been surviving on thirty minute power naps, and he was underweight, but Bumblebee could fix that.

Slowly, he started to leak a gas through his air vents. The same gas he'd used so long ago to put Sam asleep. But this time, unlike his old Charge, the trio inside of him would wake up. Not only would they wake up inside of him, but they would wake up at home.

They would wake up at the Autobot base, the only safe place for a human left in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **So I kind of grew attached to the story line? Alternatively known as me making me hate myself.

* * *

Bumblebee could feel Miles begin to stir as he pulled to a stop. He made a note that the teen woke up quickly, probably a reflex after so long. The Scout knew that after a particularly intense or long battle he always woke up faster, because he felt it was too dangerous to not do so. Miles was already sitting up from his previously slumped position against the window.

"Where the fuck…"

The Autobot knew full well that the teen was completely shocked. Even he was, and he'd been to the Autobot base before. A wall around the entire base had been erected, and at his best guess the Scout would have to estimate that it was about twenty feet taller than his Prime, even. The only thing that Bumblebee could guess was that Wheeljack must have come but who he'd gotten to help him construct the wall he had no clue.

"This," Bumblebee said gently, "Is the Autobot base."

"Taking me home to meet the parents already?" Miles asked, smirking at the symbol on his wheel. "Moving a bit too fast for me, Bee."

Bumblebee laughed, "My mother can be a bit intimidating, but I imagine you'll be accepted right away."

The Scout didn't really know that, though. He'd parked in front of some large doors, and from a quick scan the Autobot could tell that they were supposed to get a signal to make them slide apart. For the first time in months he sent a quick comm to his Prime to tell him to open the gate to let him in. Already he could see how much had changed, even more than just the wall. The entire area outside of the wall was littered with traps and wheel marks in the sand. The infected wouldn't have been able to come near; the Autobot base had turned into a fortress.

As soon as the doors opened Bumblebee drove in, only stopping because there was another set of doors in front of him. It made the Scout uncomfortable to see how cautious his 'bots and their soldiers were being, because now they seemed to be in some type of holding cell. The Scout suspected this was to ensure that no infected came in, or someone who was infected was going to come in. Seeing Fig come out of a small human sized metal door did warm his Spark a little, but the soldier was dressed to the nines with a gun in his hands.

"Bumblebee!" Fig sounded pleasantly surprised, "Hola, amigo! It's been too long!"

"It has," Bumblebee agreed. The soldier walked over and peered into the car. "This is Miles, Nick, and Millie. I picked them up off the street."

"Es cierto, amigo? We haven't gotten any fresh meat here since three weeks after the last news report." Fig muttered this in amazement, patting Bumblebee on the head. "Go on in, and report to outside the meeting hangar. The higher ups are wanting words with you, amigo."

The soldier went back towards the door he had come out of, waving before disappearing inside of it. Not long after the doors in front of Bumblebee opened up, and the Scout started to slowly drive through them. Millie and Nick were waking up now, too, and Millie sat up to groggily rub at her eyes, yawning. Nick sat up at her side, just staring down at his legs tiredly.

"Bringing me to meet the 'rents and they're mad at you?" Miles whistled, "Super bad dating etiquette."

"I'll get you flowers to make up for it later," Bumblebee sarcastically promised.

"M'too…" Millie mumbled, still rubbing at her eyes. "M'n'Nick flowers too."

"Yes, you too," Bumblebee laughed, and Miles snickered softly as well. Millie pouted, but was too tired to care for long.

It didn't escape his notice that the two kids didn't feel the need to wake up quickly, that they took the time. It just made him respect Miles even more. He might have mentioned this if he wasn't looking around the base he had once known so well in amazement.

What had once been a scattering of buildings was now a proper city, what Optimus had been aiming for in the first place. Bumblebee had to navigate roads he didn't know; only knowing that he was going the right way for sure when he passed the building that was Ratchet's Medbay. There were tons more humans than what there used to be, and the Scout had already seen two Cybertronians walking about that he didn't immediately recognize. One of them even had gold eyes, marking them as a Neutral.

Any joy that he'd gotten from joking around with Miles had disappeared. For the first time the Scout was nervous. Just how much had changed since he'd been gone?

Bumblebee eventually made his way to the meeting hangar. That building too, had changed. Before it had just been the name designated because that's where they'd originally intended to have it, but it had been built too small for their Prime. Now it had been very obviously worked over, tall enough to fit their Prime and then some. But, from the three Cybertronians sitting outside of it and the one soldier, it appeared as if they still did some talking outside of it.

The Scout pulled to a stop in front of the four, "If you three could get out of me, please."

Bumblebee had mentioned his bipedal mode, but he'd not actually bothered to show it to either Miles or the kids yet. They'd needed a moving vehicle, not a giant robot. But now Miles was ushering Millie and Nick out of his interior, before the teen climbed out himself, backpack strap in one hand and shotgun in the other. Once they were a safe distance away the Scout transformed, his Prime, CMO, and Weapons Specialist following his lead. The Scout heard an awe-filled gasp from Millie, and when he glanced down at the three humans nearest him he could see the surprise on all their faces, even Miles'.

"Holy shit," Miles said, "_That_ is one big momma."

Bumblebee followed the teen's gaze and instantly began to laugh, because while most would have looked at Optimus, the teen had pegged Ratchet right away as the 'mother'. Maybe it was because of his lime green alt mode being an ambulance, but the Scout was inclined to believe that the teen was right. His laughter died down immediately as his optics scanned the group in front of him, falling finally onto the soldier that stood there. It had been awhile since he'd last seen Will, and it appeared as if the Captain had aged a bit since then. Or maybe it was just the scowl on his face and the way he was obviously very displeased to see Miles, Nick, and Millie.

"Bumblebee," Will said sharply, "I know you've been gone for a long time now, but we do not bring _anyone_ on this base without first having them checked out by Ratchet or First Aid. First Aid, in this case."

"We are not infected," Miles replied shortly, glaring at the soldier.

"We can't run the risk of you being carriers without knowing, kid." The soldier responded instantly, leveling him with a challenging look.

"We wouldn't hurt no one!" Millie whined, and Will's gaze turned to her and softened for once.

"They are fine, William." Ratchet assured the Captain, "My scans pick up no sign of the infection on them. I do think the two children should be taken for a full check up by First Aid for now, though."

"Fine," Will allowed, and even Miles seemed okay with that, though the teen was very obviously still angry at the soldier.

Bumblebee stayed silent, though. It was the first time he'd ever seen the Captain be so rude, and while he understood that Lennox just wanted to watch out for the humans on base, it was also very offensive. If the man seriously believed that Bumblebee would bring anyone harmful to base, even after all this time with no contact… The Scout almost wanted to follow Miles' lead and glare at the Captain.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Will asked, looking directly at Millie now. "I'm Captain William Lennox."

"M'Millie," Millie responded shyly now that his attention was fully on her, edging closer to Miles.

"That's a very pretty name, Millie." Will complimented, his gaze turning to Nick. "And what's your name, son?"

Nick just stared at the soldier, and Miles put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Bumblebee could tell the teen was very tense already, and he regretted that. He hadn't quite expected this welcoming, and his 'bots weren't even trying to defend the three humans from Will's scrutiny. A lot had changed and it left the Scout with a bitter feeling.

"Nicky doesn't talk," Millie explained for her friend, "He hasn't for months now, so don't take offense. We both think it's very nice to meet you, Mr. Lennox."

"It's very nice to meet all of you, too." Will responded politely, "And I'm sorry if I seem like a meanie, but I have to make sure nothing happens to the people here."

"We understand, brother'd do the same." Millie smiled briefly at the Captain, before her gaze turned to the rest of the Autobots. "And who're you? Are you all Bee's family?"

"Indeed, little one." Optimus spoke up first, "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. To my left is Ratchet, our Chief Medical Officer, for both the humans here and the Cybertronians. To my right is Ironhide, our Weapons Specialist, Guardian of the Captain and his family. It's been quite a while since we've seen our Bumblebee."

Optimus' optics rested on him, and Bumblebee looked down at the three humans he'd picked up. "A lot's changed, I see."

"I can see the same." Optimus responded, and Bumblebee almost wanted to flinch at that. But he wasn't a sparkling anymore. Optimus' approval or disapproval over his actions really didn't matter now, did it? Just like Will and his title of Captain, the title of Prime was worthless now. The Autobots would follow whoever promised to lead just as the humans would. It was a worthless post that could be abandoned and picked up again just like that.

Optimus' optics flickered to the side, and Bumblebee followed the gaze to see First Aid walking up. It had been quite a while since he'd seen the Protectobot, and he wondered if the rest of Defensor was there, too.

* * *

A new robot came walking up to them, and Miles watched this one just as warily. Optimus and the rest seemed fine, but he knew it wasn't him that they wanted to talk to. The only one really interested in them was the soldier and Miles was already mad at him. He knew why the Captain acted the way he did, hell, like Millie had said, he'd have done it himself, but it didn't make him feel any safer.

This robot, though, knelt right in front of the teen, Millie, and Nick.

"Hello, I am First Aid. May I take these kids with me? Afterwards I can get them a shower and a nice meal. I'll talk to Graham and have him arrange a room for the three of you as well."

Miles wanted to feel like he had a choice to say yes or no, but he knew he really didn't. Between Millie already leading Nick over to the Autobot and the way the Captain had been so adamant, he knew that he'd have to go along with some things. He just had to be comforted by the fact that Bumblebee looked as troubled by everything as he felt, and that he still had his shotgun and pistol. If needed he could protect himself and his kids somewhat, even with his broken foot.

But just like that, Millie and Nick were gone. For the first time in months the two were willfully leaving him, or at least Millie was and Nick hardly if ever left her side. The teen wanted to follow them, to make sure that they were safe, but he also wanted them to be able to be alone and feel safe on their own.

The teen frowned, and looked up at the three Autobots who were still strangers to him. "I'd suggest telling First Aid not to separate them. They get checked out together, they wash together. Nick'll damn near go catatonic, and Millie'll scream her head off."

"Noted," The green one, Ratchet, replied. "But out of the three of you I believe that it is you who most requires our attention."

"I believe that can wait for later," Bumblebee answered for him, because Miles was just giving the Medic an 'Are you stupid?' look. "Fig mentioned that you wanted to talk to me."

"You and your Char-…Your, uhm…" Optimus cut himself off half way through saying Charges. Sam wasn't there, nor had the Scout brought him up. It wasn't hard to guess that the very human who had saved his race was probably dead by now, but what did that make the three humans he'd brought to base? Was he their Guardian?

"Companions," Miles supplied. "I don't need a Guardian, thank you very much, just a friend who isn't too young to get all the things I want to talk about and isn't infected. I tried befriending one of the infected once, and let me tell you, after a while it became very tiring that Todd kept trying to eat me."

From the stares he was getting his humor wasn't being appreciated, but Bumblebee, at least, vented sharply in a snort. This was going to get very tiring very quickly if Bumblebee was the only one he could trust or be himself around.

"First things first, organic, we need you to turn in your weapons." Ironhide rumbled, breaking the silence.

"I'm sorry?" Miles asked in surprise, staring up at Ironhide.

"It's policy," Will replied for his Guardian, "We can't have civilians wandering base with loaded guns. The soldiers are quite capable of providing protection."

"Uhm, fuck no." Miles responded as politely as possible.

"I agree," Bumblebee said, "You can't honestly expect to take away his weapons! How do you think he's survived all this time?"

"Good luck and the favor of his God." Ironhide looked directly at Bumblebee with an uncaring expression, "It is a direct order. It's too dangerous to leave a civilian walking around base with a gun."

"Oh, and it's safe to leave the soldiers doing it?" Miles asked sarcastically.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, kid?" Will asked, scowling at him now. "If there's anyone you should trust, it should be a soldier."

"So what? Because you're a soldier you get automatic trust?" Miles stared the soldier down defiantly, "What fucking _bullshit_. I don't trust you; I'm not going to trust any fucking one of you, Autobot or human. The only one here I do trust is Bumblebee. Being a soldier does not make you a good person, _Captain_, nor does it make you a trust worthy one. I have not survived hell by putting my trust into fucking humans."

"You can't even trust your own kind?" Will questioned, and Miles could tell he was probably the only one who'd ever challenged anything the Captain had said.

"You have got to be kidding me," Miles gave a bitter laugh. "Humans are even worse than the infected! We're supposedly highly intelligent beings with morals, and I'd sooner trust one of those zombies out there than a human so as not to get stabbed in the back! Don't you think, Captain, that had we actually been able to pull our shit together and fight with one another that we would have one while the infected would have lost?"

"I get it, kid; you've been through some shit. You're traumatized, but-"

"Do not insult him, William!" Bumblebee snapped at the soldier, "There are some things you should never just group together and try to label away under trauma. He is right and you know it. It is true for both the human race and my own. Under high duress creatures that claim to have morals often lose them."

"If you want traumatized go talk to Nick," Miles added. "He's not talked since his uncle murdered his mother as soon as she became bit, and then threatened to do the same to him if he didn't shut up because he was crying. But, I mean, you're totally right. Humans are the best ever."

"Miles, what have you done?" Optimus asked finally, staring down at the teen. "I do not wish to be rude, but if you're a threat…"

"A _threat_?" Miles repeated with a laugh. "I'm going to be completely honest here: yes, I am. But only if you threaten Nick or Millie. I've been out there with them longer than anyone else on this base, Fig said that back at the gates. It's true that we did run in to a few survivors, and even stayed with some people at the beginning, but there's a reason that we're alone now. I want it to be clear that I have never hesitated in doing what I thought was best for Millie and Nick. If it came to a point where I had to protect them here than I would. I would not hesitate for a moment."

"Just what exactly did you think was in there best interests out there, then?" Will asked, because the soldier was smart enough to know that Miles wasn't just rambling on for a reason. He was realizing that when the kid said he was a threat he was being dead serious, but he was also being honest when he said it was only for Nick and Millie, that the man could tell.

"That asshole of an uncle? I left him as bait so me and Nick could get away from a horde of the infected," Miles responded. "Back then, not long after that, I found three older men who were willing to take care of us on their farm. The house was surrounded by electric barb wire so it was perfect, and they taught me how to shoot. If I hadn't stayed with them then I probably wouldn't have been able to survive so well without them. But I knew, from the beginning, they weren't exactly the kind of people I would have spent willing time with before the infection. After it just made them even worse. I guess I was just lucky in that they were stupid, or maybe they just thought I'd be too scared and unwilling to do anything about it, but they directly talked about _breeding_ Millie as soon as she got her period so they could 'repopulate' the earth. They were all bigger than me, better at fighting, better with a gun, better with a knife. If I'd attacked one then they would have killed me; I doubt they would have let me leave, especially after that. So one night I went out and deactivated the electric fence just long enough to bring an infected in. By the end of it only one was still alive and untouched by what I'd done, so I shot him in the head."

"So yes," Miles continued, staring directly at Will's mildly horrified face. "I am dangerous. I've killed for my kids and I would do it again. But I broke my fucking foot and I need to put some trust somewhere because I can't protect them like this, not out there. And I met Bumblebee, and so he's the one my trust goes to. Not you, not towards any fucking soldier on this base, and not to the rest of the Autobots, because not a single damn one of you have done anything to earn it."

"Jesus fucking Christ, kid…" Will muttered, but after that he said nothing, because he couldn't think of a single damn thing to say.

The soldier stood on one side, the Prime, Weapons Specialist, and Medic standing behind him. Miles and the Scout stood on the other side, and the metaphorical distance between them was a lot bigger than the physical distance. There was a giant gaping chasm in between them, between those that still had faith and those who had none.

How the faithless had come together and united, Will would never know, but Bumblebee stared back at the soldier and his Autobots just as defiantly as the teen did, daring them to try and convince the two otherwise. But none of them could, because as much as they hated to admit it, the two were right.

* * *

That night, the cafeteria had three additional organics to it that needed to be showed around. After the minor fight between Miles, Ironhide, Bumblebee, and the Captain, the group had broken apart. Miles and Bumblebee had gone to the Medbay to visit the kids and so that Miles himself could be checked over, while the three higher ups had gone to talk amongst each other about their Scout's behavior.

Millie and Nick were the first to fill up their trays with food, Miles watching from the sidelines and leaning on one crutch. All of the 'bots had their holoforms out to watch the proceedings and dine with the organics of their choice, but Bumblebee wasn't joining them or any of the soldiers he knew. The Scout was alienating himself even more, but he seemed quite content to stand next to Miles as they both waited for the dinner line to die down.

The two kids went to find a place to sit, drifting towards Sarah Lennox at a table with little Annabelle, when someone knocked into Millie, sending the girl stumbling and her tray crashing to the floor. A hushed silence fell over the cafeteria at the sound of the breaking glass, but no one laughed like the normally would, because Millie started to cry.

Optimus moved his holoform over to the kids, kneeling to make sure the girl wasn't hurt. He was confused to see that she was completely fine, and despite her crying was desperately trying to clean up the mess she had made. Her brother was already hobbling his way over with the Scout hot on his heels, and as soon as she saw him she started to apologize profusely.

"Mills, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Miles sounded just as confused by it as the Prime felt.

"B-because e-everything was so n-nice and I've ruined it!" The little girl sobbed, clinging to her older brother.

The Prime came to the sickening realization that the little girl had truly thought she'd ruined everything, that she was afraid to see even this small bit of normalcy that everyone on base was taking for granted taken away from her. She'd not enjoyed something like this for months, and even now she was afraid that it wouldn't last. Normalcy had suddenly been thrust upon them, leaving the two kids walking a tight rope, but it was inevitable one of them would fall down and ruin something. And to Millie, it broke her little heart.

Optimus had to wonder just how long it would take for the two kids to work themselves back into accepting a normal way of life, or if they'd just be terrified that everything would always come falling down around them again.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Somehow I always end up making these chapters longer than I want to. Thanks for the reviews, I plan to have more things happening in the next chapter, but yay bonding!

* * *

Miles stood in the shower for longer than he probably should have, enjoying the warm water more than he had thought possible. It had been one of many things he'd missed, but it wasn't all that hard for him to get used to cold or room temperature water. It was just that he'd forgotten how great it felt for the warmth to work out tense muscles, what it felt like rolling down his head and his back. How it felt to actually be _clean_, his hair getting a thorough wash with shampoo for the first time in a couple of months.

On his list of things to worry about and things to scavenge, soap and shampoo had been frivolities that he'd abandoned quickly.

Miles stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off, pausing to glance at himself in the mirror for the first time in a long time. He ghosted his fingers down along what ribs he could see with a frown. He'd always been skinny and knew that by giving the kids most of his own food to keep them healthy he'd been losing even more weight, but he'd not realized just how much. He'd never really noticed just how perfectly the phrase 'skin and bones' was beginning to describe him. It had actually shocked him somewhat to learn that he was now underweight, and after Millie's freak out all he'd bothered to have for dinner was a roll or two. He'd not needed introduced to Ratchet's holoform; he could feel the Medic's glare on him from half way across the room.

Outside of just needing a few good meals in him, there were the bruises and scrapes, sometimes even scars, he'd earned from all his time out scavenging. Some weren't all infected related, though. The fading bruise on his upper arm was from slipping and falling into the edge of a table, and the angry green and purple bruise across his chest had been from when a dog was chasing him and he'd opted to go in the sewers for safety, only to slip and slam his chest off the pavement before he could get his feet to make purchase on the rungs of the ladder.

The teen had never been particularly worried about self-appearance, or how others thought he'd looked, but he couldn't let Millie or Nick see him like this, at least not yet. They'd just feel horrible over it.

By the time Miles finally left the bathroom he did so somewhat reluctantly, first dressing in the plain clothes that some faceless soldier had given him. As a rule of thumb the teen always locked or barricaded the door to wherever he and his kids were staying for the night, but the bathroom itself stayed unlocked and un-barricaded in case either Nick or Millie needed him. But he wasn't all that surprised, when he left the bathroom, to see an additional member to his room that hadn't been there before, standing next to the bed. Bumblebee just nodded at him, standing in a relaxed post as if he'd been a hovering guard over his kids while he'd been in the shower. Miles wasn't sure how to feel about that, so he just glanced around the room one time to see if anything needed attended to.

The room itself was a nice, simple one. A queen bed because Miles, Millie, and Nick would just be sharing it. A simple desk and wooden chair with a lamp, a TV stand with a TV and DVD/VCR player on it, an armchair in front of the TV, and then the bathroom. The teen had been amazed to find that the Autobot base had working electricity and hot water, even more amazed that the TV worked. There were no channels being broadcasted, but a DVD or VHS tape could be popped in and they could enjoy that.

He'd left the kids watching some nature documentary, and now he flicked the TV off and put the DVD back in its' case since both of them were asleep. The teen nodded at Bumblebee, scrubbing at his head with a towel as he wandered over next to the Scout's holoform and peered down at the children. Millie and Nick had bathed together, like they always did now, and afterwards Miles had given Nick's hair a quick trim before evening out Millie's, shortening her bangs once more, and braiding her hair. As it was still a bit wet, when she woke up and he took the braid out there'd be some curls for her to enjoy, and he knew she would fully well.

"They seem comfortable," Bumblebee commented, and Miles snorted.

Comfortable was putting it lightly. Despite Millie's earlier breakdown, the girl was sleeping peacefully next to her best friend. The teen knew by the end of the night one of them would be hugging the other like they were a teddy bear, and generally it was Millie doing it to Nick. The teen never felt happier than when he was looking at his kids sleeping soundly, with full bellies, clean bills of health from the robo-docs, and knowing for once that they might just be safe.

"So, back there…" Miles tossed the towel into the corner with the rest of the dirty things. The kids didn't have any clothes just yet, but Sarah was kind enough to quickly whip something together for them, and neither minded wearing a large t-shirt to bed. "Was that you trying to defend me or a bit of late teenage rebellion?"

"A bit of both, to be honest." Bumblebee admitted with some embarrassment, the Scout grabbing the sheet that was at the end of the bed and covering Millie and Nick with it.

"Oh, good, I would have had to kick your ass otherwise." Miles commented lightly, watching the Scout's interactions with his kids.

"Speaking of kicking," Bumblebee said the last word rather pointedly, glancing at Miles now. "How's your foot? Shouldn't you be in that cast?"

Miles rolled his eyes, walking over to the lone armchair in the room and plopping down in it. Ratchet had personally looked over him, and the Autobot Medic had given him both a cast, a brace if he wanted more maneuverability, and a crutch to use to help balance himself. He'd also been given half a bottle of vicoden. The teen hadn't said it to his face, but he hardly planned to use any of it, and definitely not the pain pills. He couldn't afford to be loopy.

"It itches and I don't like dragging my foot everywhere. Cast or no it'll heal on its' own, I'll just use the crutch and not put too much pressure on it."

"Is that your way of saying you're going to be stupid and I'm going to find you doing something you probably shouldn't be tomorrow?"

"Alright, it's kind of creepy that you've got me pegged already." Miles laughed softly, "But, to something more important, have things changed a lot here since you were last here?"

"You could say that," Bumblebee sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall. So far, Miles had to admit that Bumblebee's holoform was the only one that truly looked and acted human to him. All the other holoforms he'd seen so far kept messing up somehow, or just seemed odd. "The biggest point is that while my Prime always mentioned wanting to make the base a city, it only had about four large hangars back then. Now not only is it a city but it's a fortress as well."

"Kind of intimidating, I'd say."

"I'd have to agree," Bumblebee grinned briefly, "And there's a lot more humans here, Cybertronians as well. Before it was just Ironhide, Optimus, Ratchet, and myself at the most. Now, from who I've personally seen, there's First Aid, Wheeljack, a neutral, and more. The world outside the walls fell to shambles but the world inside seems to be expanding quite well."

"Hmm…" The teen knew that, logically, he should feel as if he were safe here. He also knew he was like an abused mutt left on the streets to fend for himself and suddenly taken into the warmth of a home. He was bound to snap, or think he found something to snap at; after all he'd already done so at the Captain. Miles knew how this could end for him and the kids, for everyone inside the base potentially, but he was tired of looking for endings. He wanted a beginning.

"Miles, if you don't like it here, I'd leave with you. Between you and me, Millie and Nick could stay safe."

Miles smiled gently at the Scout, wondering how much of what he was saying was his need to have another Charge to replace Sam. "I'm giving it a trial run. Can't do shit with my foot broken, out there."

"You won't do anything too strenuous, then?"

"Do you seriously think I can with a bad foot?" Miles rolled his eyes, but the Scout just gave him a look of disbelief.

* * *

Bumblebee returned to his humans' room when he woke up from recharge, not feeling bad about thinking of them like that. He was almost sure Miles probably thought of him as 'his Autobot', because the teen certainly wasn't considering anyone besides the kids as his. Even in recharge he'd not been all that far away, just parked safely at the end of the complex so he wouldn't block anyone's coming and going into the barracks/apartments. Instead of just putting his holoform in the room with them this time he decided to knock, it wouldn't do to startle one of the two kids.

The Scout knocked, not all that surprised by the fact that a bleary eyed Millie opened the door. By now he was well accustomed to a human way of thinking, and even if he hadn't been, the sight of her in an oversized t-shirt and sleep ruffled hair was an adorable one. The little girl yawned and stepped to the side so he could enter, and he glanced around the room in mild confusion. And then mild anger.

In the end, he couldn't decide if he was truly surprised Miles wasn't there or surprised that he hadn't figured the teen would disappear to do something sooner. The Scout looked to Nick who was still sitting on the bed, and the boy just stared back, before glancing at Millie. Bumblebee did the same.

"Brother left at some point last night and we heard 'im talkin'," Millie explained, climbing back into the bed with Nick. "He popped back in and said 'e was goin' scavengin' with some of the soldiers."

Bumblebee stared at the two on the bed for a moment, deciding between anger and mild amusement. The teen had told him that they'd been making their way back to Tranquility as a sort of final hoorah to the past; he just hadn't expected Miles to continue on the way so quickly. He was also going to have to talk with Will, because how in the world was it that easy for a civilian to leave base with scavenging soldiers?

* * *

Miles entered his room, slipping off his backpack and throwing it on the bed. He turned to lock the door out of reflex and nearly ran smack dab into Bumblebee's holoform, arms crossed and finger tapping against one of them. The teen was seriously considering having words with the Scout at some point because _holy shit_, talk about a near heart attack. By now he'd trained himself not to holler or jump when scared just because of the circumstances he was usually in, but that didn't stop his heart from leaping into his throat.

"So what happened to not doing anything strenuous?"

The teen honestly considered saying that it hadn't nearly killed him to go scavenging with the soldiers. It really hadn't been all that bad, considering that most of the infected in Tranquility had long since been wiped out. It had been more emotionally taxing than anything. The last bit of home he'd had left there was in the Witwicky household, boxes of photographs and videos they'd left behind to get later.

Later had never come, of course. The house itself had been rank with the smell of decay and while at first Miles had worried maybe Judy or Ron had been trapped in the house to rot, he'd found Mojo's little body. He'd forgotten about the Witwicky dog before that, and had ignored thoughts about his own beloved Mastiff, but he'd felt bad for the little Chihuahua. Before the break out it'd been adored, pampered, and well fed. Afterwards it had starved all on its' own.

Seeing the little dog's body had reminded him of the fact that just before he'd left the house to go search out Nick, thinking that maybe his sister was with her friend, he'd locked the doggy door so one of the disturbed people outside couldn't make their way in. He'd locked his poor Mason in the house and had never gone back. How many other pets had suffered the same fate? Abandoned, hungry, and then dead.

Miles had sworn to himself that he was never getting another pet after seeing Mojo, but he'd gone to the Witwicky house for a reason, and he'd gotten what he'd wanted out of the box. A photo album, some VHS tapes and DVDs. The teen could have explained that to the irate Autobot in front of him, but instead he took out the one picture he'd found worthy of giving to Bumblebee, handing it over to the Scout.

Miles had actually forgotten its' existence entirely until he'd found it in Sam's room when he'd raided his friends drawers for some clothes. It had been stuck on top, a sentimentality that he'd never expected from the brown haired boy. It had been taken about a week after Mission City. Sam's and his relationship had been rocky for a while by then, what with the teen's crazed obsession with becoming popular, getting the car, getting the girl, and then afterwards hiding the secret about the Autobots, but that had been a good day. Miles could at least remember that much. One of the last good days he'd had.

The picture was of him and Sam sitting on top of the hood of a shiny Camaro, an arm around each other and matching grins, while Ron and Miles' father stood to the right and copied their pose, and Judy and Miles' mother did the same to the left. Half the humans in the picture had been in the know about the Scout then, and half hadn't, but the Scout had been great at playing a non-sentient car from what the teen could remember.

Bumblebee stared at the picture with a sad expression, but said nothing.

"One day." Miles said, deciding to keep the door unlocked for now. "One day for mourning the past, Bumblebee. That's it, because after that I'm putting my foot down. So you can either sit here with me and watch some of these videos or you can fuck off somewhere. Your choice."

Bumblebee looked at the teen finally, "I didn't think you'd be the type to give a day to mourning."

"If you can afford it, if you can handle it, then there's no problem with mourning. But it's not worth missing the dead if it will make you miss life, too. The dead are dead, and you're not, so while it's okay to remember them don't lose yourself in those memories. That's why I'm only giving myself one day. After a bit I'll search out Nick and Millie so they can be here as well, but that can wait."

"So you're offering to mourn with me?" Bumblebee sounded as if he didn't believe that, and Miles was a bit reluctant to offer it in the first place, much less push it through.

One of the last things he needed was someone else to care and worry about in his life, even if that someone was a giant alien robot that could most likely take care of himself. He knew it was best to hold back and try not to get too close too quickly, but that was hard to do. Bumblebee was easy to get along with, to joke with, and the Scout was quickly getting just as protective over his kids as Miles needed him to be to feel safe. The teen realized that it was probably the Scout looking for someone to cling to, much like Nick had latched on to Millie, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Sam was family to me growing up, and I know he was important to you, so why not?" Miles shot back with a shrug.

* * *

Bumblebee was finding mourning to be rather therapeutic. Especially mourning when it was with Miles, because the teen just couldn't seem to take being sad for long. In the end, what was better than having a few laughs and letting go of the past while you were at it? He still had the picture that the teen had given him and he planned to put it in his chest compartment later. His past and what he was coming to think of his future together in one picture.

The Scout wasn't stupid, though. He could tell how reluctant Miles was to get attached, how one moment the teen would be open and welcoming and the next he'd be closed off. He'd tell him that he didn't want another Sam if it'd make a difference, but Bumblebee didn't think Miles would actually believe him. And while it was true he didn't want another Sam because he wanted Sam to forever remain unique, he couldn't stop himself from looking for someone to claim as his, and too much had changed at the base for him to feel comfortable with his own Autobots anymore.

Sam had been an escape, a medium to dealing with growing up in a war, a brother to share stories with. Miles was hope for a dark future, strength and determination where they had no right to belong. Sam had been accepting the past, while Miles went even further and was looking back and realizing the past for what it was and then looking forward and realizing the future for what it could be and the strength to continue on despite that. Sam had been a brother, and while family was important you just couldn't tell them everything or experience everything with them, but Miles was a companion and that provided a whole new set of things the Scout hadn't encountered quite yet.

As much as he hated to admit it, Miles was a lot stronger than Sam ever was. Had his teen survived and they made it to the Autobot base, Sam wouldn't have fought being coddled and kept safe. Sam would have relied on him and the rest of the Autobots, on the soldiers. Miles relied on himself and his own capabilities. Miles took care of himself even with his broken foot, going out with the soldiers when he had no need to, let alone permission to.

So, to him, despite his short amount of time spent with Miles, the two humans were completely different in his optics. Sam had been a reprieve, an enjoyable dream, but Miles was reality, and that was really what he needed, in the end. There were no happy endings for his kind, for the human race, and he had to accept that. Miles was just teaching him how.

While the mourning was sad, in a weird way, it was enjoyable. They were watching a video of Sam's twelfth birthday, and Bumblebee was taking up most of the armchair while Miles sat on the armrest. Mourning was also a bonding experience for them, because Miles was actually letting his walls down and the Scout in without a fight. Bumblebee didn't know if that was because the teen felt he had to so he could help the Scout as well, or because he just wanted the company. He didn't care.

He watched his old Charge fight to blow the candles on his birthday cake out before finally giving up and just picking them out one by one and putting them in his drink, a younger Miles dying silently behind him. Even the person holding the camera was fighting not to laugh by the way they were shaking, making Sam puff up in anger at being laughed at.

"Those fucking candles," Miles muttered, before turning a grin on Bumblebee. "Every single year we bought those magic candles for Sam up until his 12th when he realized there was a trick being played. Longest standing prank in the history of ever, I swear. How he was dense enough to miss out on the fact that he was the only one who couldn't blow 'em out was and is beyond me, but boy was he pissed when he figured it out."

Bumblebee laughed softly, and the Sam on screen finally realized he was being duped and started pitching a fit by tossing some of his birthday cake at the person behind the camera, and then shoving some in Miles' face as well. That, of course, started a full out food fight, which only stopped when Judy and Miles' mom walked in with presents.

The tape ended there, and Miles got up and removed it only to slide the next one, this time a DVD, in. He pressed play and then returned to the armchair, plopping down so he was squeezed in to what little portion Bumblebee didn't take up and his legs crossed over the Scout's lap, letting him stretch out so his foot wasn't touching anything. The Scout just let him; he'd imagined the teen was probably regretting being stubborn now but there was no way he was going to take the vicoden Ratchet had prescribed him. Even he'd known that, and Ratchet would figure it out quickly enough.

Just as the video began to play, the door slammed open and Will stormed in. Had Bumblebee been paying attention he would have seen the Captain coming from a long way's off, but he was focusing on his holoform and not his alt mode, so he was as startled as Miles.

"How the hell did you manage to go out scavenging with my men?" Will demanded, moving in front of the TV.

"My good looks, obviously." Miles replied in a bored tone, but Bumblebee could feel how much the teen was tensing up.

"Now, you look here!" Will gritted his teeth, having to take a visible breath to calm down, before he turned his attention to Bumblebee. "I had at least expected you to keep a better eye on him, Bumblebee. It's dangerous out there."

"I actually had no idea he'd gone," Bumblebee admitted. He didn't point out that it was slagging hard to keep an optic out for an organic who did his own thing. "The leash is, unfortunately, not held by me in this relationship."

"Damn right," Miles smirked.

Will looked as if he wanted to say a few choice things, but thought better of it and just gritted his teeth once more. "Do not do it again without my permission."

"Sure thing," Miles responded easily enough, and Will just scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Oh, and I suggest going to the cafeteria. Ratchet's going to drag you down there if he doesn't see you there soon," Will grumbled, stalking out of the room with what little dignity he had left.

Bumblebee waited until the soldier was long gone before turning an annoyed look on the teen, "You haven't ate yet?"

"I was busy!" Miles protested, "It's stupid to eat while scavenging, and then we were watching these videos."

"I'm going to take Ratchet's side here. I will sit on you and force you to eat if you don't take better care of yourself."

Miles snorted, "Kinky."

Bumblebee barely held back a groan. He didn't know if it was because of Will or if he'd gone a step too far, but Miles was right back to being closed off again. "I'm serious, you need to eat. I realize that you probably just forgot, or thought it just didn't matter, but you need to take better care of yourself!"

"And why do _you_ care?" Miles finally asked, staring at him with a guarded expression. But it was his eyes that worried Bumblebee the most. "I can take care of myself just fine; you know that for a fact. I know you saved my ass, saved Nick and Millie too, and I appreciate that, but you don't have to keep it up anymore. There's nothing left for you to save."

"No? Because whenever Nick and Millie aren't around your eyes remind me of Sam's!" Bumblebee snapped, and Miles was momentarily shocked.

And it was true. One of the things that had bothered Bumblebee the most about the infection in Sam was it took away all the light in his eyes, where he'd once been expressive he now just looked uncaring and dead. Miles' eyes were exactly the same, and the Scout knew that was a dangerous thing. Sam might have been the one to get the infection, to disappear completely, but it was Miles' heart that was infected, and it was infected with despair.

"I think we might have that in common, then." Miles uttered softly, because he knew what Bumblebee meant. What was worse was he wasn't fighting it.

"I don't get it," Bumblebee ignored Miles' comment, "You have the kids, and you even said they were your reason for living, so _why_?"

"Because of fear, because reality sucks." Miles leaned his head against Bumblebee's shoulder, sounding tired. The extra contact shocked the Scout, an opening and a weakness he hadn't expected the teen to show. "Every single day I thought I was going to day. Every single day I worried that they were going to die. I worried that there'd be a serious illness, that one of us would become infected. There wouldn't be enough food, they'd suffer malnutrition, we'd run into bad people, the water would have something bad in it. There was just so much to worry about, I never actually thought…"

"Thought what?" Bumblebee urged softly, encouraging the teen.

"That we'd make it this far. To a safe place." Miles' voice was bitter, "Now I'm just afraid that this city is gilded."

"Yeah..." The Scout agreed, "That's what I'm afraid of, too."

The Scout hadn't denied Miles' accusation because a part of him knew that was true. His Spark was much the same way, infected with terrible emotions, and it had been getting that way for a while. Sam and the earth-wide infection had just been the catalyst. What if the teen never stopped being afraid, or what if his fears become founded? But Bumblebee knew that what if's were a dangerous thing. They were either loaded with hope or had none, there was never an in between, and all Miles had anymore were the hopeless what if's. The Scout just had to try to fix that, then, and maybe by fixing Miles' what if's he could fix his own too. And one of the first steps was giving the teen someone to share his fear with, all he had to do was tell himself it wasn't just because he wanted that very thing himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Graham has no first name? I can't find anything on him with a first name, so I'm just making something up. Correct me if I'm wrong.**  
Reviews: **Hesperydes-I just wanted to let you know that yes I did have to use a translator, but I appreciate your comment very much none the less! I love all of my reviewers! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

* * *

Miles wouldn't have felt so cornered while eating if he hadn't known he was being watched. He was a big boy by now, he knew how to take care of himself, and while he'd neglected to eat breakfast and lunch it wasn't like he was _starving_. He was underweight, but he was not starving. Of course, if he complained to Ratchet about the Medic watching him like a hawk it could cause the mech to dislike him, which wouldn't be good for Nick and Millie, and Bumblebee he _needed_ on his side at this point, so there wasn't much the teen could do to kick up a fuss.

The teen was starting to realize the cafeteria was either always full of people and holoforms or he just managed to come in during the rush hour, because it was nearly jam packed. He'd originally sat down with Sarah, because although he didn't much enjoy her husband the woman herself was a pleasure and little Annabelle was a cutie. But the girls had left a while ago, which might have been for the best. Miles had only sat with them because that's where Millie had gravitated to the night before, he didn't actually have any urge to make friends with the woman, nor did he know what to say.

So now he sat on his own, eating slowly for once and taking the time to enjoy it. Some kind of chicken alfredo, and the teen never actually thought he'd be able to enjoy food like this again. He was almost comfortable in the chatter-filled cafeteria, a long forgotten nostalgic feeling filling him. It was just like before the infection; the chatter of a hundred people mixing into a symphony in one place.

"Between Bumblebee's and Ratchet's reactions," A man started to say as he came up to Miles' table, startling the teen momentarily. His garb instantly depicted him as a soldier and the man helped himself to a seat. "You'd have thought if you didn't eat in ten seconds you were going to keel over."

Miles eyed the man, taking another bite of his spaghetti and just shrugging in response. The man didn't seem to be anything but friendly; an open body position with a smile on his face. The teen chewed slowly, knowing so far his reception from the soldiers varied greatly. Captain Lennox might possibly hate him, but the soldiers he'd gone scavenging with had adored the shit out of him. But the man in front of him wasn't one of those men, nor was he the Captain, so Miles didn't know what to think.

"I'm Callum Graham, but I prefer just Graham." Graham grinned at him, "You've made quite a whirlwind on base, you know."

"Have I?" Miles prompted, trying to pin down where he recognized the name. It must have been used earlier but it hadn't been significant enough at the time to keep it noted.

"Oh yeah," Graham snatched the roll off of Miles' tray, taking a bite out of it. "Lennox and Ironhide are having conniptions over you not listening to them, basically all the scavengers you went out with hold you in high respect because not only did you talk your way into letting them take you along but you did really well out there and worked well with them, and you brought Bee back."

"Bumblebee was the one that brought me here," Miles pointed out.

"I don't know what happened with that mech, but I do know it's fairly obvious that you and those kids are the only reason he came back." The soldier responded, finishing off the roll in another few bites. Miles took a sip of his water, thinking about that, and then decided that the soldier was probably right. "So, I'm just going to give you my two cents. You need to get yourself in with a few of the civilians just so they know you too, you need to remind Bumblebee to make an effort to do the same with the 'bots, and you can keep pissing Will off. It's hilarious."

Miles slid some of the noodles that were left on his plate around it, "I've been used to two kids for a while now, and one of them doesn't even talk. It's a bit of a stretch to jump from that to normal adult conversation with soldiers, let alone civilians who might not have been out there long."

"Tackle the women first, then." Graham suggested, "I know for a fact Mrs. Lennox is in love with you for keeping your kids safe throughout this, which is just making Will crazier because she's taking your side. And speaking of Sarah, I believe she'd be willing to make Millie and Nick some costumes."

"Costumes?" Miles repeated with confusion.

"For Halloween. We're having a party that night and everyone's supposed to be in costume if they're going, gonna be candy and cakes and stuff. Millie and Nick are the only kids on base, but we might be able to get the mechs to give them candy if they ask nicely."

"It's… Halloween?" Miles had noticed a small change in the foliage recently, but he'd not paid all that much attention. It was just easier to not think about all the time passing, to just take the world on day by day instead of trying to move beyond that. How bad would the winter be?

"In about two weeks it will be."

"I think they'd like that, just…"

"Just?" Graham urged, raising an eyebrow.

"No zombie costumes."

Graham laughed at that, and Miles grinned, attention turning to the side where he could see Bumblebee's holoform advancing towards them. The Scout sat down just to his right, placing a roll on his tray and then smiling at the soldier.

"Thanks, mom." Miles replied with a roll of his eyes at the mech. The teen took an obliging bite out of it for the mech, and for Ratchet.

"You're welcome, son. They're with Optimus, by the way." Bumblebee quipped back while Graham snickered at them. "Graham, right?"

Miles didn't know whether to just roll his eyes again or thank the mech for real this time. He knew instantly that Bumblebee was talking about Millie and Nick because Miles didn't care about anyone else; he was trying to be kind and let them wander on their own. It was better for them if they could get by without him in a place like this where they were safer and had more active supervision, because despite some of his earlier words to Will even the teen was beginning to relax in the Autobot fortress. That didn't mean he wasn't going to keep tabs on his kids at all times, and Bumblebee was just helping him in that.

"Yeah, thought it was a damn shame that we never got to talk." The soldier held out his hand and the Scout shook it, nodding as if he agreed.

Miles just sat back and finished his roll, allowing the Scout and the soldier to finish talking. Graham was an easy man to get along with, and it allowed easy conversation to flow without too much effort on anyone's-or any mech's-part. Miles did spend some time thinking about Graham's words, though. How could he reach out to the other mechs on base, the other humans? His and Bumblebee's friendship was an odd and unstable one, and he knew that rocky stability was mostly his own feelings, but still. How many others would he be willing to get to know?

* * *

"You're doing _what_?"

Now, everything had already been explained to Miles, but he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the concept, and the Prime tended to use a lot of big words. The medic shot his Prime an annoyed look, but Optimus did nothing but shrug. Blaster was there as well, a mech the teen had just been introduced to. The teen wondered how he'd lost Bumblebee at some point for these three instead and if he could somehow switch back.

"We're collecting stories of how it started for everyone," Optimus explained gently, his large form moving to sit on one of the berths. "We're trying to pinpoint where it started, how far and how quickly it spread, if certain areas are worse because of population or if any areas have different Infected than what some have encountered. Usually we compile a few people's stories each day and then air it that night over a certain radio channel here, but it was unanimously decided to do a longer interview on just you. Blaster is in charge of the stories, and will be recording what goes on."

"What, do you actually think that will make a difference somehow?"

Optimus and Ratchet both said nothing to Miles' sarcastic question, and the teen realized he wasn't really being fair to them. Graham had mentioned Bumblebee getting on with the 'bots again, but he had to too, didn't he? It was commendable for the Autobots to think of and try to figure out where everything started. It might not lead to a cure, it might not lead to anything, but knowing more would comfort a lot of people. Knowing more but not knowing why would only drive the ones like him insane.

"I remember the reports," Miles said instead of apologizing. "We knew there was a disease and rioters, which I guess were the Infected, but at that time we weren't prepared. It didn't hit us first; we were one of the ones to get caught in the spread. I never really paid attention to the news, y'know, it just wasn't something I cared about. The only reason it stood out was because my mom got super worried about the Witwickys when Nevada was shut down by the government; that's when what was going on was explained to me. The next day it hit us."

"Your first encounter?" Ratchet prompted.

"That's tough…" Miles thought back to that first horrible day. "I'd stayed home from school that day because I was feeling lazy, and me and my mom were gonna paint the living room. I got a call from one of my buddies there at the school and he was hiding in the bathroom stall hysterical, saying the school was on lockdown and everyone was eating each other. I didn't believe him, then. I thought he was high or something, just tripping balls, so I ignored it. That was the first incident nearby that I actually heard of."

Miles took a deep breath, and the two Cybertronians let him continue. "The first one I actually ran into I was taking my dog for a walk. There was a girl running in front of me and this guy just came barreling out of an alleyway and just took her down. He started eating her, or trying to, but his jaw was missing… I ran. I got back home and my mom was in the kitchen crying and trying to get my dad on the phone and… God, a lot of it is just this huge blur. I know my dad was picking Millie up because they'd heard about the high school, and about attacks nearby, but I'd been sleeping most of the day and I felt horrible about not helping that jogger, so I just stood there and let her do everything. But Ma lost contact of dad at some point, and Mills too, so… She was already bitten then, and I just didn't know at that point."

"You know what happens to people when they got bit, and with her panicking so much I think it just sped up the process. Pretty soon she had a bad fever and was completely incomprehensible. I didn't know bites did anything; I still just didn't know _anything_ at all. I just remember her dying and then coming back, and then, well…" Miles didn't have to add on the fact that his mother had tried to eat him, "I was trying to get her to the bathroom so I could lock her in it, I didn't know why she was attacking me, but I pushed her a bit too hard. I remember thinking I'd killed her, I remember crying my eyes out and leaving to go find Millie and Dad."

"Her 'death' is the only one that's actually stayed with me," Miles added. "I know there were others that day, even Dad, but… When she died I still hadn't learned to disassociate the Infected from humans. She was still my mom to me, but by the time I found Dad there'd already been a transition. I know I'd stopped caring, that I was going from set goal to set goal, and that if I would have run out of stuff to make myself do I probably would have just sat down and died. Even now, I think if I didn't have Nick and Millie to watch over I'd probably not stick around."

The teen didn't elaborate whether he just meant stick around the base or if he was referring to suicide, and neither the Prime nor the Medic asked. Blaster leaned forward, surprising Miles. He was sure the mech wasn't going to talk the whole session, apparently he'd been wrong.

"There's been talk going around some of the… more superstitious organics that you're either an angel, a demon, or a witch. Half of them are convinced to the angel side of the argument and are vouching for you and the children against those more scared of you."

"Scared of me?" Miles actually laughed at that, "All I have on my side is one good foot, an overprotective robot, and good aim. I think I'm the one that needs to be scared, here."

"As irrational as the talk is," Ratchet cut in, "Even you have to admit it is quite miraculous, yours and the children's survival."

"Indeed. God favors you, little one." The Prime added.

Miles gave them both a somewhat cross look, "Gentleme-_gentlebots_, had I relied on God to ensure my safety I'm positive I would be just as dead or as Infected as most of my race right now. I stopped believing in any higher power that first day, after Nick's Uncle turned on him. I did give some thought to whether it might have finally been Judgment day, but there's no way Nick and Millie could have displeased Him so much that He abandoned them."

"What would you account it to, then?" Blaster pressed.

"Myself," Miles replied, trying hard not to become annoyed. "The only thing that kept those kids safe was me. The only thing that kept myself safe was me. No higher power ever did shit to help me out. No God, any of them, did shit to help my race out when we started eating each other, and sure as shit none has helped you if you've landed on this planet and you're just as dead as us."

"You're a terrible force to be reckoned with, then." Ratchet commented, "A one man army devoted to keeping his charges safe."

"You already know I had some help in the beginning. Outside of that it's just being smart and being too stubborn to die."

"Well, how about something else for a little bit?" Blaster suggested, "What was your reaction to Bumblebee?"

"A cousin of mine was a huge alien nutcase and was all over the stuff that went down in Mission City. He sent me some of those viral videos before they were mysteriously taken down, though I guess now it really was a government cover up." Miles smirked, "Either way, there's not much left to be surprised about when you go from worrying about whether or not you remembered to do your English homework to how much ammo you have left."

"So Sam never told you about us?"

"No," Miles replied easily. "Bit awkward afterwards to realize I'd ridden in Bumblebee before, but he was good at playing a fake car."

"Did Bumblebee ever say what happened to Sam?"

That's what Blaster was really after, then. The mech wanted to know about Sam, or more importantly, about Bumblebee and Sam. The teen glanced at Ratchet and Optimus, the Prime either a master at innocent faces or truly unaware that Blaster was going to go this route, and then there was Ratchet, who was glaring right at the mech. They were all probably curious as to what had made their Scout disappear and the teen that had been his Charge, so at least one of them thought to question the teen he'd brought in Sam's place.

"No, he never did." At this point the lie came easily, though why he was doing it Miles wasn't sure. Was he trying to protect Bumblebee, and if so, what was he trying to protect the Scout from? "I assumed Sam got infected, as I'm sure you guys did, too. Otherwise I think Bumblebee would have brought him here. If Sam would have lived, though, I probably would be dead right now, and Nick and Millie through that, so…"

"You credit your rescue not just to Bumblebee but to Sam as well?"

He didn't credit a thing to Sam. He knew quite well that had his friend survived he probably would have been quite content to hole up in the Autobot city that would turn into a fortress and stay safe. Then again, he never saw himself doing everything that he's done, so maybe Sam would have changed as well. In the end it wasn't fair to the memory of his friend to assume he'd have stayed scared and helpless in this crazy world because Miles didn't, and what made him think that Sam couldn't change, too, then? He'd never know, though, because his friend's body was rotting somewhere on a stream, or in it if the boat had capsized.

He smiled, "You could say that. Bumblebee never really told me what happened to Sam and I don't think we should really add any of this stuff about him on the air tonight, or however you mechs refer to it as."

"Fair enough," Blaster seemed to agree with that, and Miles felt like he could relax a little. Even if he did play everything it wasn't like they'd have anything that they couldn't have already guessed on their own. "How about how you and Bumblebee met, then?"

"Oh, that's easy. It was right outside Mission City…"

* * *

Will looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was right at that moment and Bumblebee felt a little sympathy for the Captain. He'd helped to keep peace among the human population on the base, and everyone had been listening, up until a little teen was brought on base that pretty much openly said fuck you right to his face. He seemed torn between anger and reluctant acceptance, one of the odder expression changes the Scout had seen on a human.

The Scout took a moment to take in his surroundings. After lunch the mech had separated from his teen to go and see First Aid in the Medbay. He hadn't been separated from the Autobots for long, but a routine checkup was still in order, and any mech would be insane to turn down the gentle Medic over the rough one. Miles had been cornered for an interview by his Prime, Ratchet, and Blaster, which Bumblebee only knew about because Optimus had been thoughtful enough to contact him about the teen's location. It was a relief and an annoyance at the same time, because Bumblebee didn't want to keep tabs on the teen and the kids at all times, and yet again he did.

While he'd been in the Medbay he'd gotten a ping on his comm from Ironhide to collect Miles and meet Will in the meeting hangar. It was a good deal more impressive than the last hangar they'd had, which had been quite a joke, but it was rather sad considering there was only one Autobot and two tiny little humans in it. Originally Ironhide had been there as well, but Will had sent him off for perimeter duty.

"Miles," Will called; a tone of voice that immediately caught the teen's attention. The man's expression shifted once more, this time hardening. "I need you to tell me about an incident out there that one of my men reported to me. Smoff told me at a certain place in the city you'd asked if they'd been an earlier party through there recently. First off: how recently?"

"Uh…" Miles had to think back, the teen as openly baffled by this question as Bumblebee was. "Less than a day… I'd guess have to be over a couple hours."

"Now _what_ made you ask that?"

"A kicked down door and a broken window that had blood near it," Miles didn't hesitate on his answer now.

"Fuck," Will cursed under his breath, "You're certain? What made you notice the door? The blood, how can you be sure it's new?"

"The infected don't kick down doors. They don't know how to open it, they relentlessly pound at it until it either cracks and they can tear their way through, or it breaks off the wall. I checked the doorknob in case it was just a weak door that gave and the dust on it and the dust on the doorknob was disturbed. Not even the smartest infected has tried a handle, not in a blood rush. And they would have had to been if it was infected, which it wasn't, because the blood inside of the room with the broken window had to be fresh. There was at least five infected milling about that room, still irritated, and old blood does not attract them. It was dried by that point, yes, but if it was older than a day it wouldn't attract them. Older than a few hours, even, I guess, I've never bothered checking."

"I'm guessing it wasn't any of your men, Will?" Bumblebee asked, optics moving between his teen and the Captain.

"From his face, I'd say he's not thinking it's just another survivor." Miles crossed his arms over his chest, staring the man down. "What's going on?"

"You just confirmed my suspicions that the Infected aren't the only ones that are hunting us out there, Miles." Will answered, the man's tone acidic. "And it certainly explains a lot."

Bumblebee shared a look with his teen, instantly knowing that Miles was getting the same exact feeling as him. This couldn't be any good. "What does it explain?"

"There's a reason we don't take any Cybertronians with us scavenging, Bumblebee." Will leaned against the wall, "We did at first, and it worked well for a while. It was always the same Autobot because my men knew what to expect from him and vice versa, but he was taken out."

"Taken out?" Miles repeated with some disbelief. Bumblebee almost wished the teen wasn't there to here this; if he knew they were just as fallible as humans then it would be even harder to earn his trust.

"We thought it was just some old members of Sector Seven roaming around still. It was a blow, yes, and we never recovered the mech, unfortunately. His name was Blurr. But we couldn't let that stop us, we needed supplies. So, despite Optimus' wishes, some of us humans snuck out and went scavenging on our own for a time. He knew it was happening but in the end he couldn't make us stop and nothing happened. We were hoping that whoever was only going to target the Cybertronians, but… You remember Bobby, Bee?"

"Robert? Of course, I was wondering where he's hiding."

"He disappeared about six weeks ago. He was leading one of the scavenging parties and an unusual amount of Infected were in one area and he and his men were taking care of it. That was the last anyone saw of him."

"How do you know one of those things just didn't get him?" Miles asked, frowning.

"All my men who go out scavenging wear a custom made tracker." Will sighed, "It was a unanimous thought that if one of us was taken by the disease we'd want found and put to rest. Bobby's tracked for about an hour before it's frequency got scrambled. I was hoping, for his sake and ours, that it wasn't an outside force messing with the tracker. Now I have to believe that it is. It's god damn fucking Murphy's law, if you ask me."

"More like O'Reilly's." Bumblebee and Miles said at the same time, both too disheartened to find any amusement in it as the teen tacked on, "Murphy was too much of a damn optimist."

Bumblebee knew what a tough spot the Captain had to be in. It was impossible for the humans on base to be able to get everything they need from within the walls, and while Wheeljack could replicate a lot of the medicine the humans used he'd first need it to know what exactly it was. They had to go out and scavenge, there was no other choice. It was a risk they had to take. They'd lost Blurr to it, one of the fastest mechs out there, and Bobby, one of the best soldiers Bumblebee had ever met. The Scout had to wonder who was hunting them; would Sector Seven really go so far at the end of the world? What would be the point? And why did Will even let Miles know, was the soldier planning something for him?

* * *

For the first time in months Miles was alone willingly, reading a book and relaxing in the armchair in the room he and the kids had been given. After Will's little talk, the teen had felt like some alone time could be used. He'd picked up a book and had been able to read a little, but in the end his mind kept wandering to other things. He knew Bumblebee had mentioned that Sector Seven somewhat, but the Scout had never gone into much teen was racking his brain for an appropriate response to the information he'd gotten. Was Will expecting him to offer something, to do something about it?

"_Did Bumblebee ever say what happened to Sam?"_

He'd tuned in on the radio out of curiosity more than anything, and by the time his voice came through he'd forgotten all about it. Millie and Nick had been taken by Graham to get their Halloween costumes planned out. The teen would have gone, but he realized that the two kids needed to get used to him not being around. If he were to be honest to himself, though, it was him that needed to get used to them not being around, and catching up on his nonexistent reading to actually spend the time driving himself crazy was the perfect excuse.

In the end, Miles wasn't surprised that Blaster ended up starting off the show with that. From what he gathered Sam had been a big part of making the Autobot base so human oriented, a helpful human liaison that didn't have a title tacked on already from being a soldier. Most of the humans on base would have at least heard of him at some point, and all of the mechs for sure knew about him for some reason or another. It was almost funny that Sam had his popularity now, though he couldn't be there to enjoy it.

The teen hoisted himself up out of the armchair, mildly cursing his foot. He'd done a bit too much walking on it that day but he was still too stubborn to take any medication for it. He hobbled over to the radio, deciding he didn't need to hear what would be played. There was nothing he thought he'd end up regret saying and he certainly didn't need to hear himself talk, so there was no need to listen.

"Don't."

Miles' hand froze over the dial, the teen turning with only a small amount of surprise to see Bumblebee. He was getting used to the mech's habit of just popping in, but he wasn't used to the unreadable expression on the Scout's face. After Will's little bomb the Scout had all but disappeared, and the teen could only guess at where he had gone.

"_Bumblebee never really told me what happened to Sam. I assumed Sam got infected, as I'm sure you guys did, too. Otherwise I think Bumblebee would have brought him here. If Sam would have lived, though, I probably would be dead right now, and Nick and Millie through that, so… "_

Bumblebee appeared momentarily confused by what he was hearing. Maybe he had actually expected Miles to tell the truth, for anyone who was listening to hear how the Scout had kept Sam's infected body locked up inside of him. The teen knew that it couldn't speak well about the Scout's mental stability if he'd done so for months and probably would have continued to do so if he hadn't come along. When it came down to it, he really didn't want to spend too much time thinking about what Bumblebee's actions meant, or how the Autobots and everyone else would have reacted to it.

"_There's been talk going around some of the… more superstitious organics that you're either an angel, a demon, or a witch." _In the pause Blaster played the X-files theme, and Miles might have had the time to be amused if he wasn't so focused on seemed to click for the Autobot, then, because he finally seemed to understand that Miles had lied. The Scout moved closer to the teen, barely a foot away from him, and just reached around him, turning the radio off.

He finally understood what a pregnant pause was, and here he'd thought it was just a term in his mother's romance novels.

"Why did you lie?"

Miles couldn't give Bumblebee an answer when he didn't have one himself. Was it some absurd notion of protecting the Scout, and if so from what? How could the teen assume the other Cybertronian's reactions, or that it wasn't normal Cybertronian behavior in some weird custom way that just translated oddly with the infection going on? But there was a part of him that knew it couldn't have been just some sort of off world custom, otherwise the Scout would have said something to explain himself, redeem himself. He would have said something to the Autobots.

So why would Miles lie for him? He could have tried on his own with the kids, taken it easy on his foot and pressed his luck. Gone out to a less populated area, holed up somewhere and just hunted for a bit, but he'd decided to go with the mech. He'd been tired of just the kids and just himself, hadn't he? Even if he was reluctant to trust Bumblebee completely, to care for him completely, it was a miracle that he'd decided to go this far with him, and he knew that. Bumblebee knew that. Why did it even matter? Would the Scout have been angry otherwise? Would he have yelled at him?

The teen was out of his comfort zone now, and he just wanted to grab his kids and pretend that this wasn't happening for some reason. The plague had stunted him emotionally for sure, he'd never been this afraid of stuff before it, yet look at him now. He'd reversed from a well-functioning almost adult to a shell of his former self just so he could get through the months, so he could care for Nick and Millie and make sure they stayed safe. It was easier to forget the past Miles Lancaster in order to live with the new one that had to be made, but now that he wanted him back? He hadn't expected it to be this hard.

"I don't know," Miles replied finally, honestly.

Maybe it was something in his voice, or maybe it was something Bumblebee himself needed, but the next second the Scout was hugging him and Miles still had absolutely no idea what to do. So the teen just stood there, letting the holoform of a being that was years older than him hug him for as long as he wanted, because it wasn't like he had anything better to do. It wasn't like he actually hugged him back just because it had been ages since he'd had anything besides two sets of little arms trying to cling to him at the same, or that he actually wanted to. No, he just did it for the Scout.


End file.
